Heidegger firmly believes that we must return to the starting point of western philosophy (Greek spirit) in order to save the decline of the western world and find the strength to withstand the historical crisis of modernity. To return to the spiritual source of ancient Greece, which combined the breadth of the world with the depth of existence, we must first put an end to the "casual" attitude of modern people towards classical thought like Freud. Heidegger's argument in Introduction to Metaphysics is to interpret the poems of ancient Greek poets, not only to interpret parmenides's "teaching poems", but also to think deeply about the Oedipus incident described by Sophocles under the guidance of Holderlin's "the other eye", so as to approach the simple and energetic problems and thinking of the Greeks.
Oedipus stabbed himself in the eye after learning the story of killing his father and marrying his mother. Holderlin explained that Oedipus had "one more eye" because he lost both eyes. Heidegger went on to explain that "this extra eye is the basic condition of all great inquiries and the only metaphysical basis." The knowledge and learning of the Greeks is this kind of enthusiasm. "Oedipus" poked himself in the eye, that is, he let himself into the light "(Heidegger, Introduction to Metaphysics, translated by Xiong Wei Wang Qingjie, Business Edition 1996, 108).
I lost my eyes to see the world, but I got another eye. What are these extra eyes looking at?
Not looking, but thinking, thinking about the truth. Therefore, this vision has the metaphysical depth of "original knowledge". In order to understand the thinking of this eye, Heidegger chose the first ten lines of the "fourth chorus" in King Oedipus (line1186-1196):
Children of mortals, I regard your lives as nothing! Whose happiness is not a superficial phenomenon and disappears in a short time? Unfortunately Oedipus, your fate, your fate warned me not to say that mortals are happy. (King Oedipus, translated by Luo Niansheng)
Heidegger only picked up four lines 1 189-1192 (the Chinese version of Introduction to Metaphysics is wrongly translated as "1189 pages below"):
Who, who wants to add color to the settlers here, because he is already in the appearance, should he be a performer who turns around the image? (Introduction to Metaphysics, 109)
When you know that Zu Er has been conquered, do you still remember? And Mr. Luo Niansheng's translation whose happiness is not a superficial phenomenon and disappears in a short time? The meaning is very clear, and compared with the original Greek, it is not out of shape. Heidegger's translation is puzzling, which can be said to be translated into his own philosophical language. I have long heard that Heidegger's translation of Greek sentences is strange, but I didn't know this time.
What is even more puzzling is why Heidegger chose these four sentences. It is really strange to put Heidegger's translation back into its original context. Isn't this taken out of context?
To fully understand the meaning of a poem, we need to find a breakthrough point, and sometimes taking it out of context is the cut-in action of understanding, thus bringing out the deep meaning.
What did Heidegger break out of context?
It is a song of fate sung by the gods through the chorus: the gods make the life of mortals empty, and happiness is an illusory appearance. This is not to say that the truth of Greek existence is the truth about God, but that "Greek's enthusiasm for knowledge and learning" is the recognition of inexplicable fate. What is this?
The performance of tragedy is first based on such a shocking move, how God and man become partners, and how natural forces and deep feelings of man become one in endless anger. (For the Interpretation of Oedipus by Holderlin, see The Complete Works of Holderlin, translated by Dai Hui, Business Edition 1999, p. 269).
From this point of view, killing father and marrying mother is only the most superficial phenomenon in the Oedipus incident. Indeed, what is more shocking than killing your father and marrying your mother? However, it is such a shock, but you have to blind people's eyes to see common things, and you can grow an eye to see "how God and people become partners."
In this case, the Oedipus incident did not end in the drama King Oedipus, on the contrary, it was just the beginning there. The ending of King Oedipus is: Oedipus knows that his destination is endless suffering;
Oedipus: Where am I going, an unfortunate man? Where did my voice fly lightly? Fate, where have you been?
Chorus: Jumped into such a terrible disaster that no one could hear or see it.
Oedipus wants to die, and his fate is to wander around the world. In the face of disaster, people can't even escape death. This is not to say that even if limited life is suffering, there is nowhere to escape. What is this? The so-called tragic spirit comes from this unavoidable pain: knowing that you will not be happy and you have to live. No real person or enlightened person who thinks that life disaster can escape will understand the tragic spirit.
Don't say that a mortal is happy until he crosses the boundary of life and is freed from pain. This is the last song sung by the choir at the end of King Oedipus. Cain killed his brother, and God made him wander around the world. Instead of sentencing him to death, he marked him so that Cain would not be killed by passers-by on the wandering road. What about Oedipus?
Sophocles is late? He wrote Oedipus in Koronos (translated by Luo Niansheng, Hunan Edition, 1983), which is a masterpiece of the poet's life and has not attracted people's attention for a long time-even the attention of thinkers like Holderlin and Hegel who "have one more eye" on Greek tragedy. It was not until the twentieth century that it was called the most difficult but also "the most outstanding work" by some critics.
Oedipus of Kronos is about the death of Oedipus, who has been wandering for nearly 20 years-a happy death. At that time, he had lived to adulthood, but although he wandered around, he did not die.
How do blind people drift? Antigone always accompanied her unfortunate father, and Oedipus said to everyone, "This girl's eyes are for herself and for me." . Oedipus lost his eye and "gained an eye", which is antigone's eye.
Why did antigone accompany the unfortunate sinner and wander with him?
Antigone is convinced that her father is innocent, despite his appalling mistakes. Along the way, she "begged the world with two eyes that are not blind" and did not tolerate Oedipus because of his "legend of negligent behavior". Antigone's eyes are natural eyes, and it can be seen that godly people are always unlucky in this world. Innocence and guilt are the fate of godly people.
The tragedy antigone and two tragedies about Oedipus belong to the same story theme. According to the course of the story, it should be the last one, but the earliest one was King Oedipus (see Luo Niansheng's On Ancient Greek Drama, China Dramatic Edition 1985, p. 46). Antigone was sentenced to death for Ann's dirty brother. She prayed to the gods and firmly believed that she was innocent. A hymn is like Job crying to God:
Which sacred law have I violated? ..... Why should I, an unfortunate person, rely on God? Since my pious behavior is regarded as ungodly's, why should I pray for God's blessing? Even in the eyes of the gods, this capital crime is culpable of punishment, and I will only repent when I die. (antigone, line 92 1-926, translated by Luo Niansheng)
The original meaning of "sin" in the poem is "no longer the companion of God". Antigone does not recognize "sin" in the moral-legal sense, but only asks whether there is "sin" in ungodly. The final ending of King Oedipus is the confession of Oedipus. After 20 years of wandering, Oedipus in "Oedipus of Kronos" was replaced by the plea of "not guilty": "I killed people who wanted my life; I am innocent before the law; I killed him because I didn't know who he was. " The tyrant Creon exposed Oedipus' scar and threatened that "your people will not accept a father killer, a polluted person, and a person related to an unclean marriage". Oedipus insisted, "I shouldn't be called a sinner because of this marriage or killing my father." Because all this happened without his knowledge, the "doomed fate" fell on his father, mother and himself. Here, Oedipus overthrew the same "sin" in the moral-legal sense.
Sophocles clearly distinguishes two kinds of crimes: one can be called moral-legal crime, within which antigone and Oedipus do not plead guilty; Another kind of crime, which can be called religious crime, means that the relationship between man and God is out of touch because of man's fragile nature. The confession in King Oedipus is the lack of human nature and the recognition of the power of the gods.
Boros, Corinth, and your ancient homeland call me an ancestor. You raised me. My skin is so beautiful, but there are poisonous sores festering underneath! I only now find myself a humble person, from humble origins. (King Oedipus, pp. 224-225)
This kind of crime is inherent in everyone. "No one will be polluted except yourself." Before drifting, Oedipus could not distinguish two different sins-the lack of life and the evil of this world. After wandering, under the guidance of antigone's eyes, he learned that religious repentance (admitting the lack of life) is different from the repentance of this world (admitting the sin of killing his father and marrying his mother), and he learned to plead not guilty. Creon's attempt to "capture" antigone is tantamount to taking away the boundary between sin and debt and the basis of Oedipus' innocent defense;
My original eye is blind, and you have to take my only eye by force! (Scene 2)
Only in the sense of the crime of debt, people are unfortunate. We can't complain about such misfortune and the inevitable cruelty in life, but we must bear it. The gods will not punish those who fall into evil because of the lack of life, but pity and care for them, because evil is the true face of the living world. Being blessed by God and keeping company with God does not mean that people who believe in God will not have misfortune all their lives, but will always maintain their relationship with God. Oedipus left two lonely sisters in antigone.
The choir sang:
What good children you two sisters are. You must endure God's predestined fate, and don't be too sad. You have nothing to complain about. ("Exit Song")
Oedipus said in a message to his sisters before going to hades:
You don't have to bear the burden of raising me anymore, children, I know very well that it is not easy; But just one sentence can offset all the hard work. ("Exit Song")
This is the truth about existence that the Greeks are passionate about understanding and learning.
Holderlin, who has an extra eye because of insanity, can see clearly that for Greek tragic poets, "punishment" is not religious, but the concept of moral law: moral law and human will are opposed, but people themselves do not know this opposition, but they just feel that they are suffering from some kind of confrontation and regard this confrontation as evil. Because people can't understand the legitimacy of this confrontation, the confrontation they bear is felt as pain. Suffering because of confrontation is suffering, and the evil will is inferred from confrontation, so suffering becomes punishment (see Holderlin's On the Concept of Punishment, see Holderlin's Complete Works, previously revealed, p. 194- 195). Didn't Oedipus become an evil wish against fate in this life? Only from the perspective of religious evil can we understand the formation of this evil, become God's companion, transcend evil, bear the misfortunes in our own lives and share the pain of our loved ones.
The Greek drama poet is Mr. Luo Niansheng's antigone, accompanying him? "Wandering" and "sharing" his misfortune. During Mr. Luo Niansheng's passionate career in Greece, the works of Greek tragic poets are antigone's eyes, watching the road for him.
Mr. Luo Niansheng was born in a small town near Weiyuan County, Sichuan Province on 1904. After he was admitted to Tsinghua University, he first studied natural science. However, Luo Niansheng loves literature by nature, and his poetry and prose collections are called "comely" and "dreamy" (Lin Yutang, Joo Sang wook), which is regarded as a member of the May 4th New Literature Movement. In the late 1920s, he went to the United States to study, specializing in Greek literature, and then went to Athens to study for one year. He was the first China student to study in Athens.
I never understood why such a Greek literature expert with both ability and political integrity could not find a stable teaching post for a long time after returning to China. If it is difficult to find a teaching post because of the turmoil of that era, why can all the people who came back from abroad in that era become professors, while Mr. Luo Niansheng wants to dig an ancient tomb in the northwest, and middle schools have to take part-time classes? Perhaps one of the reasons is that although Mr. Luo Niansheng has even studied the source of western culture, he has not brought back the doctor's hat. Mr Luo Niansheng is a man of temperament. He went abroad to study, pursued his dreams, and learned what he really wanted to learn only by his love for Greek literature. So he studied in America for four years and changed to three universities. In the mid-1930s, the university system in China was gradually formed according to the western model, and it was probably not easy to get a teaching post without a doctorate.
So what if you have a doctorate? There was a famous scholar in Shang Dynasty who studied Plato from a famous teacher college for ten years. After returning to China with a doctorate, he immediately became a professor at a first-class university (National Southwest Associated University) and moved to the United States 49 years later. Fortunately, he didn't waste his time on the socialist transformation movement. What did he leave behind? Chinese versions and notes of Plato's dialogues and several research papers. Plato's research in Chinese and Korean academic circles did not begin with his salary. Originally, he had enough academic resources and time to complete the Chinese translation of Plato's works, but he didn't make the effort (it is said that the master thought Plato was untranslatable). On the contrary, Mr. Yan Qun (Yan Fu's grandnephew), who had almost the same experience as Mr. Luo Niansheng and didn't bring back a doctor's hat when studying in the United States, translated all Plato's dialogues in the 1960s (it is said that the translations were unfortunately burned during the Cultural Revolution). That Plato expert thinks Plato is untranslatable. Why did he translate in modern English when he was teaching Plato in the university? This is obviously a lack of enthusiasm. When teaching in a university, there are naturally students, and lucky students naturally respect their teachers. So such a scholar has become a legendary master. Why do China literati always like to worship legendary masters?
Mr. Luo Niansheng, without a doctorate, has translated all the tragedies handed down by Aeschylus and Sophocles (fourteen * * *), five of the eighteen tragedies handed down by euripides, six of the eleven comedies handed down by aristophanes, and Aristotle's Poetics, Rhetoric, Selected Poems of Ancient Greece in Ming Style and many famous Greek and Roman prose works (under difficult living conditions). 1990 died, there was still an unfinished translation of Homer's Iliad (continued by Mr. Wang Huansheng, People's Literature Edition 1999). Because there were no outstanding students, Mr. Luo Niansheng did not become a legendary master. The ancient Greek-Chinese dictionary, edited by him diligently, has been submitted for nearly twenty years and has not been published yet. In recent years, there has been a craze for editing complete works in academic circles, and some people's junk translations have also been incorporated into complete works, but Mr. Luo Niansheng's translation has only seen the fate of various places so far.
If I could only take out two treasures from the rich and charming Greek treasure house, I would take the works of dramatic poets and Plato. With these two treasures and the ancient Greek-China dictionary, I want to enter the enthusiasm of the Greek spirit and have a walking crutch. Luo Niansheng's "Poet's Translation" left the handed down translation of Greek drama poets, which became my antigone's eyes.
The achievements of Chinese translation of western classics by Chinese and Korean academic circles were mainly laid in the 1940s and 1960s. If I were a high school student, I would be able to read the exquisite Chinese translations of real western classics. I believe my cultural anemia would not be so serious. Since the 1920s, there have indeed been many outstanding translators. It's a pity that some people devote their whole lives to less classic western works. What are Balzac's novels and romain rolland's writings, the great spiritual heritage of western culture? What kind of great philosopher is Feuerbach? Isn't it important to choose what to translate? Doesn't the list of so-called "western classics" need to be completely rewritten? Isn't Luo Niansheng, a translator who devoted his life to Greek drama poets, worthy of our lifelong gratitude?
It has been more than 100 years since China's ideological and cultural circles really contacted and understood western thoughts. Today, people are still uneasy about the understanding of western ideological and cultural connotations. Comparatively speaking, China people's enthusiasm for understanding modern thoughts is far greater than that for understanding western classical thoughts. The reason seems easy to understand: the enthusiasm of modern intellectuals in China to understand western ideas is mainly driven by the dream of a modern power. The modern enlightenment spirit describes the Greek spirit as "a wonderful childhood of mankind", as if modern thought is full of charm and maturity; Some scholars believe this rumor, and then say that the Greek spirit is just a lost childhood, which has nothing to do with the dream of a modern power.
Even if it becomes a modern power, the evil in this world will not disappear. The enthusiasm of the Greeks for knowledge and learning has nothing to do with the dream of becoming a powerful country, but it is closer to the sorrow of the earth than modern thought. In my opinion, Mr. Luo Niansheng's poetic literary temperament is not "comely" or "peculiar", but simple and gentle, which comes from pure and gentle temperament. It is this temperament that enables Mr. Luo Niansheng to appreciate the details written by tragic poets. Luo Niansheng's feelings about his destiny are both tragic and poetic.
..... there is nothing in the world.
Nothing, his pure and noble soul.
Being with God has never been contaminated with human vices.
A heart full of beauty was born only for Greece.
Only for hard and proper labor.
Poor and solemn, obeying divine harmony.
His burning eyes are full of lifelong attachment.
Through the distant time and space, wandering in the sea and temples of Greece in the early morning.
Looking forward to meeting God's eyes.
Now he is in the sky, in
Between the gods and the purple clouds
(Excerpted from Wen Jie: "Greece-In Memory of Mr. Luo Niansheng")
Mr. Luo Niansheng's enthusiasm for Greek drama is purely personal, just like Mr. Zhu Shenghao's enthusiasm for Shakespeare, Mr. Andersen, Mr. He Lin's enthusiasm for Hegel, Mr. Luyuan's enthusiasm for Rilke, Mr. Tian's enthusiasm for Dante, Professor Hong Handing's enthusiasm for Spinoza, Professor Ni Liangkang's enthusiasm for Husserl, and Professor Heidegger's enthusiasm ... I admire this enthusiasm and the painstaking efforts flowing out of it.
Like Oedipus, Mr Luo Niansheng was unhappy until his death. He hopes that half of his ashes will be scattered in the Greek waters of the Aegean Sea. The Greek government accepted the ashes, but could not bear to scatter them into the sea. They are dirty in the garden of the European Cultural Center in Delphi and buried in the same land as the Greek drama poets. This should be the song of antigone's crying father Oedipus:
He died in a foreign land, his beloved land, and always lay in a cool bed underground; There were tears in the mourning he enjoyed behind him. Because, father, my tearful eyes are crying for you.
Supplementary explanation
This article is written in memory of Mr. Luo Niansheng. Reading original issue12,2000. I didn't expect this lyrical text to attract a response from the distant ocean. I want to thank the respondents here.
Dr. Yu Jiyuan's article comes from North America (published in Reading 200 1 No.4? It is said that he was ordered to be fair to his teacher's teacher, Professor Chen Kang. Dr. Yu's article is plain and gentle, mainly about the academic achievements of the professor, which has benefited me a lot. What moved me especially was that Dr. Yu didn't hold a grudge against me because I didn't criticize Mr. Yu by name in the article. He just said at the end that our younger generation should respect their predecessors ... From Dr. Yu's words, he understood that I really respect those predecessors who have made substantial contributions in the difficult course of China's modern academics.
More than three years later, Dr. Liu Huiru, who teaches at Trier University, also wrote an article (Reading, No.8, 2004). Many years later, Dr. Liu Huiru must have put a lot of effort into my lyrics. Can it not be touching?
Dr. Huiru's article seems profound and knowledgeable in theory. It seems very logical. The general idea is that my article "Looking at the Road" is based on several wrong translations of Heidegger and Holderlin (Dr. Hui Ru deliberately didn't mention that these translations were written by Professor Xiong Wei, a student of Heidegger, and Dai Hui, a German doctor from the University of Tubingen), explaining Sophocles and Holderlin at will, and taking it for granted to look at the ancient Greek tragedy from a Christian perspective. After some serious reasoning, the article finally announced in a high-profile way: the article "Looking at the Road" criticized others for explaining at will, but in fact it was explaining at will. The most instructive thing about the article is that those who talk about "blindness" seem to have fallen into the trap of "blindness" (so that they will eventually return to "the light after blindness").
By the way, I specifically discussed the paper "The Enlightenment Significance of antigone's First Chorus" explained by Holdrin and Heidegger, which was published in the second issue of Foreign Literature in 2004 before Dr. Liu Huiru's article, and it has nothing to do with this.